Sin Hong Choon

Dadaocheng was once Taiwan's gateway to the world. Through exports of tea and camphor, modern Western civilisation and traditional Han Chinese culture met on the riverbank here. In the first half of the 20th century Dadaocheng flourished, with modern drama and amateur opera troupes competing on stage, and coffee salons alongside tea culture. Sin Hong Choon, a witness to those prosperous years, was built in 1934 as the house where Dadaocheng tea merchant Wang Lianhe, who had come to Taiwan from Anxi in Fujian with his father's family, established the family business. Combining Chinese and Western features, this building from the Japanese colonial period is one of the few mixed residential and commercial Western-style buildings in Taipei to survive intact. It was designated a city historic site in 2009 and restored over four years from 2011 to 2015, and in 2015 the original owner donated it to the Taipei City Government. The city's Department of Cultural Affairs took it over in May 2016, and on 20 September 2016 opened a series of special exhibitions introducing the building and the heyday of Dadaocheng's tea merchants. From 1 July 2024 it has been run by National Taipei University of Education as a base for promoting tea culture and training people in it, with a professional museum team working towards the goals of 'tea exchange', 'tea education' and 'tea living'. On the second floor, the Shi Xian Tea space blends a nostalgic Republican-era style with modern tea aesthetics and offers mindfulness tea classes and arts salons.

Translated and shortened by DealTaipei from Taiwan's national tourism database. Sources are on the terms page.